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McCloskey and Bulechek (1999) identified “coping enhancement” as a nursing intervention and defined it as “assisting a patient to adapt to perceived stressors, changes, or threats that interfere with meeting life demands and roles”. The nurse can build on the patient’s existing coping strategies, as identified in the health appraisal, or teach new strategies for coping if necessary.
The five predominant ways of coping with illness identified in a review of 57 nursing research studies were as follows ( Jalowiec,1993):
• Trying to be optimistic about the outcome
• Using social support
• Using spiritual resources
• Trying to maintain control either over the situation or over feelings
• Trying to accept the situation
Other ways of coping included seeking information, reprioritizing needs and roles, lowering expectations, making compromises, comparing oneself to others, planning activities to conserve
energy, taking things one step at a time, listening to one’s body, and using self-talk for encouragement.
The nurse can implement the coping enhancement interventions and explore methods for improving the patient’s coping abilities.

Stress or the potential for stress is ubiquitous; that is, it is everywhere and anywhere at once. Anxiety, frustration, anger, and feelings of inadequacy, helplessness, or powerlessness are emotions
often associated with stress. In the presence of these emotions, the customary activities of daily living may be disrupted; for example, a sleep disturbance may be present, eating and activity patterns
may be altered, and family processes or role performance may be disrupted.
Many nursing diagnoses are possible for patients suffering from stress. One nursing diagnosis related to stress is Anxiety, which is defined as a vague, uneasy feeling, the source of which may be nonspecific or not known to the person. Stress may also be manifested as ineffective coping patterns, impaired thought processes, or disrupted relationships. These human responses are reflected in
the nursing diagnoses of Impaired adjustment, Ineffective coping, Defensive coping, and Ineffective denial, all of which indicate poor adaptive responses. Other possible nursing diagnoses include
Social isolation, Risk for impaired parenting, Spiritual distress, Readiness for family coping, Decisional conflict, Situational low self-esteem, and Powerlessness, among others. Because human responses
to stress are varied, as are the sources of stress, arriving at an accurate diagnosis allows interventions and goals to be more specific and leads to improved outcomes. Stress management is directed toward reducing and controlling stress and improving coping. Nurses might use these methods
not only with their patients but also in their own lives. The need to prevent illness, improve the quality of life, and decrease the cost of health care makes efforts to promote health essential, and stress control is a significant health-promotion goal. (continue reading…)

An individual’s personal resources that aid in coping include health and energy. A health-promoting lifestyle provides these resources and buffers or cushions the impact of stressors. Lifestyles or habits that contribute to the risk of illness can be identified through a health risk appraisal. A health risk appraisal is an assessment method that is designed to promote health by examining an individual’s personal habits and recommending changes when a health risk is identified. Health risk questionnaires estimate the likelihood that a person with a given set of characteristics will become ill. It is hoped
that if people are provided with this information, they will alter their activities (eg, stop smoking, have periodic screening examinations) to improve their health. Questionnaires typically address
the following information: (continue reading…)